Watertown RFP Biosolids Hauling 2021 thru 2023 rev1.pdf

CITY OF WATERTOWN

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

RFP #: PAHBSC

Title: 2021-2023 Biosolids Hauling Contract

Department: Wastewater Due Date: January 19, 2021

Table of Contents

I. NOTICE TO PROPOSERS

A. Summary…

B. Important Dates…

C. How to Submit a Proposal…

D. Contact Information…

E. Inquiries, Clarification & Exceptions…

F. Addenda

G. Bid Distribution Networks…

H. Local Vendor Preference

I. Oral Presentations/Site Visits/Meetings…

J. Acceptance/Rejection/Withdrawal of Proposals…

K. Public Record Law Compliance

L. Public Records Notice

M. Tax Exempt

N. Cooperative Purchasing

O. Terms of Contract…

P. Cancellation/Termination of Contract…

Q. Evaluation Process…

R. Insurance and Indemnification…

II. SCOPE OF WORK…

III. REQUIRED INFORMATION

I. NOTICE TO PROPOSERS

A. Summary

The City of Watertown department of Wastewater is soliciting proposals from qualified vendors for a three (3) year contract for hauling and land application of cake Biosolids with option to extend contract for an additional two years. Vendors submitting proposals are required to read this Request for Proposals “RFP” in its entirety and follow the instructions contained herein.

B. Important Dates

Deliver proposals no later than the due time and date indicated below. The City will reject late proposals:

Issue Date: January 7, 2021

Questions Due Date: January 14, 2021

Answers Posted Date: January 15, 2021

Due Date: January 19, 2021 @ 2:00 PM CST

C. How to Submit a Proposal

Submit all required documentation in separate, sealed envelopes. Each envelope should be clearly marked as to the contents. Cost of project shall be submitted separately in a sealed envelope.

Hardcopy proposals typed and securely bound on 8.5 by 11-inch paper, otherwise identical to the electronic version (if applicable).

Signature Affidavit (Form A): One Copy

Receipt of Forms (Form B): One Copy

Vendor Profile and Qualifications (Form C): One Copy

References (Form D): One Copy

Insurance and Indemnification (Form E): One Copy

Cost Proposal (Form F): One Copy Sealed Separately

Section III Required Information: One Copy

All proposal costs are the expense of the proposer. The City will not consider illegible proposals.

Elaborate proposals beyond that sufficient to present a complete and effective proposal, are not necessary or desired.

Complete and return Forms A through F to City of Watertown Utility Clerk’s Office by January 19, 2021, 2:00 PM CST.

All proposals shall be clearly labeled:

Proposer’s Name and Address

RFP #: PAHBSC

Title: 2021-2023 Biosolids Contract

Due: January 19, 2021, 2:00 PM CST

All email correspondence shall include RFP # in the subject line.

Delivery of hard copies to: City of Watertown Utility Office

800 Hoffmann Drive

PO BOX 477

Watertown, WI. 53038

Proposals shall be delivered as instructed. Deliveries to other City departments and/or locations may result in disqualification.

Note: When mailing your response via a third party delivery service, the outside of the packaging shall be clearly marked with the RFP name and number. This ensures that the bid shall be delivered to the correct purchasing agent without having to open the bid.

D. Contact Information

The City of Watertown Wastewater Treatment is the procuring agency:

Peter Hartz

City of Watertown Wastewater Treatment

800 Hoffmann Drive

Watertown, WI. 53038

Phone: (920) 262-4085

Fax: (920) 262-4087 phartz@cityofwatertown.org

E. Inquiries, Clarification & Exceptions

Proposers are to raise any questions they have about the RFP document without delay. Direct all questions, in writing, to the department contact listed above in section D.

Proposers finding any significant ambiguity, error, conflict, discrepancy, omission, or other deficiency in this RFP document shall immediately notify the buyer and request clarification. In the event that it is necessary to provide additional clarification or revision to the RFP, the City will post addenda – see Addenda below. Proposers are strongly encouraged to check for addenda regularly.

Proposals should be as responsive as possible to the provisions stated herein. A prospective vendor may take “exception” to bid terms, conditions, specifications and dates stated within the bid package. However, the City of Watertown reserves the right to disqualify any and all bids submitted which include exceptions, if deemed not in the City’s best interests.

F. Addenda

In the event that it is necessary to provide additional clarification or revision to the RFP, the City will post addenda to the same websites as the original distribution – see G below. It is the proposer’s responsibility to regularly monitor the websites for any such postings. Proposers must acknowledge the receipt of any addenda on Form B. Failure to retrieve addenda and include their provisions may result in disqualification.

mailto:phartz@cityofwatertown.org

G. Bid Distribution Networks

The City of Watertown Wastewater Utility is posting this Request for Proposal, and addenda on two distribution networks – VendorNet and our City Website. The aforementioned documents are available exclusively from these websites. It is the proposer’s responsibility to regularly monitor the bid distribution network for any such postings. Proposer’s failure to retrieve such addenda and incorporate their appropriate provisions in their response may result in disqualification. Both sites offer free access to City proposers. Bid tabulations, awards and related announcements will be presented to the respective committee(s) and City Council meetings.

State of Wisconsin VendorNet System: State of Wisconsin and local agencies bid network.

Registration is free. http://vendornet.state.wi.us/vendornet

City of Watertown Website: https://www.ci.watertown.wi.us/

H. Local Vendor Preference

The City of Watertown has included a local vendor preference granting a scoring preference to local suppliers. The “local area” is defined as a physical address within City of Watertown.

Exemptions and limitations may apply. Due to state law, buy local preference may not apply to public works projects. Due to federal restrictions, federally funded programs are also exempt.

Exemptions will also be made for emergencies, sole source purchases, cooperative purchasing agreements and cases in which a local vendor is not qualified as determined by City staff. If it is determined by City staff that a vendor has misrepresented its local status, it will be ineligible to receive preference.

I. Oral Presentations/Site Visits/Meetings

Proposers may be asked to attend meetings, make oral presentations, inspect City locations or make their facilities available for a site inspection as part of this RFP process. Such presentations, meetings or site visits will be at the proposer’s expense.

J. Acceptance/Rejection/Withdrawal of Proposals

The City reserves the right to accept or reject any or all proposals submitted, in whole or in part, and to waive any informalities or technicalities, which at the City’s discretion is determined to be in the best interests of the City. Further, the City makes no representations that a contract will be awarded to any proposer responding to this request. The City expressly reserves the right to reject any and all proposals responding to this invitation without indicating any reasons for such rejection(s).

http://vendornet.state.wi.us/vendornet https://www.ci.watertown.wi.us/

K. Public Record Law Compliance

It is the intention of City to maintain an open and public process in the solicitation, submission, review, and approval of contracts.

a. The parties acknowledge that City is a municipal corporation legally bound to comply with the Wisconsin Public Records Law and Open Meetings Law (see sections 19.32-19.39 and 19.81-19.98, Wis. Statutes) and that, unless otherwise clearly allowed by law to be an exception to the Public Record Law and confidential, all aspects of this agreement are subject to open disclosure and are a matter of public record. It is further agreed to that neither party will take any action to obstruct the operation of these laws. To comply with any request under said Public Record Law, the provider/contractor herein shall produce copies of all materials, gathered or produced or modified pursuant to this Contract to City, in their original (i.e., electronic or digital, etc.) format at actual cost of reproduction, without profit. According to Wisconsin case law, even if records are created or maintained by, or in the custody of, the provider as an independent contractor, they, along with the raw data used to create the record, are nevertheless public records that must be made available to the public within a reasonable time and without delay upon request by any person, and in the format in which they were created. Provider/contractor agrees to hold City, its agents, officials and employees harmless and to indemnify them and City for all costs, fees, including all reasonable attorney fees and expenses of all kinds, and any judgments, orders, injunctions, writs of mandamus, and damages or expense of whatever kind for which City or its agents, officials or employees may expend or be held liable due to the

Provider/contractor’s failure to comply with the Wisconsin Public Records and Open

Meetings laws, or with this Agreement.

b. Any Public Records Law request received directly by a contractor related to this Contract with City shall immediately be reported to the City Attorney.

L. Public Records Notice

Proposers are hereby notified that all information submitted in response to this RFP may be made available for public inspection according to the Public Records Law of the State of Wisconsin or other applicable public record laws. Information qualifying as a “trade secret” – defined in State of

Wisconsin Statues – may be held confidential.

Proposers shall separately and clearly identify all information they deem to be “trade secrets”, as defined in the State of Wisconsin Statutes. Do not duplicate or co-mingle information deemed confidential and sealed, elsewhere in your response.

S. 19.36(5)

(5) TRADE SECRETS. An authority may withhold access to any record or portion of a record containing information qualifying as a trade secret as defined in s. 134.90(1)(c).

S. 134.90(1)(c)

(c) “Trade secret” means information, including a formula, pattern, compilation, program, device, method, technique or process to which all of the following apply:

1. The information derives independent economic value, actual or potential, from not being generally known to, and not being readily ascertainable by proper means by, other persons who can obtain economic value from its disclosure or use.

2. The information is the subject of efforts to maintain its secrecy that are reasonable under the circumstances.

The City cannot ensure that information will not be subject to release if a request is made under applicable public records laws. The City cannot consider the following confidential: a bid in its entirety, price bid information, or the entire contents of any resulting contract. The City will not provide advance notice to proposers prior to release of any requested record.

To the extent permitted by such laws, it is the intention of the City to withhold the contents of proposals from public view – until such times as competitive or bargaining reasons no longer require non-disclosure, in the City’s opinion. At that time, all proposals will be available for review in accordance with such laws.

M. Tax Exempt

The City of Watertown as a municipality is exempt from payment of federal excise taxes and

State of Wisconsin taxes per Wisconsin statue 77.54(9a). Federal Tax ID #39-6005640. A completed Wisconsin Department of Revenue Form S-211 (R.2-00) can be obtained by contacting the City Clerk’s office. Our tax-exempt number is ES 44278.

N. Cooperative Purchasing

Bidders may choose to extend prices offered on bids to other municipalities. Under Wisconsin

Statutes, a municipality is defined as a county; city; village; town; school district; board of school directors; sewer district; drainage district; vocational, technical and adult education district; or any other public or quasi-public corporation, officer, board or other body having the authority to award public contracts. This is known as “cooperative” or “piggyback” purchasing, a practice common amongst units of government. The City is not responsible for any contract resulting from a cooperative purchase using this RFP as a basis; they are made solely between the bidders and third party unit of government.

O. Terms of Contract

1. Term of Contract – The term of the contract shall be for 2021, 2022, and 2023 to commence on Notice to Proceed Date, ending on November 30, 2023.

2. Option to Extend – The City of Watertown reserves the right to extend the contract for two

(2) additional years, upon the same or more favorable terms and conditions, and under mutual agreement of both parties.

3. Contract Extension Pricing – Contract prices on an extended contract will be adjusted

(escalated or deescalated) based upon the average annual change in the Consumer Index for

“All Items” published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) (Table 1A. Consumer Price

Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U): U.S. city average, by expenditure category and commodity and service group, Expenditure Category “All Items”). The CPI-U value is published by the BLS at its website: http://www.bls.gov/cpi/news.htm http://www.bls.gov/cpi/news.htm

The price for an option year shall be based upon the percent change in the CPI-U from the preceding year applied to the current contract year price to obtain the option year price.

The City of Watertown reserves the right to discontinue the contract’s remaining option year and may elect to re-advertise the contract in whole or in part when changes in prices are not mutually acceptable between the contractor and the City.

Any and all changes to the contract terms and conditions shall be evidenced in writing by amending/modifying the contract.

4. Subcontracting Regulations – Successful vendor(s) will not be permitted to sublet, sell, transfer, assign or otherwise dispose of the contract or any portion therein, or its right, title or interest in, to any person, vendor or corporation.

P. Cancellation/Termination of Contract

The City of Watertown may terminate the contract at any time at its sole discretion by delivering thirty (30) days written notice to the contractor. Upon termination, the agency’s liability will be limited to the pro-rated cost of the services performed as of the date of termination plus expenses incurred with the prior written approval of the agency. In the event that the contractor terminates the contract, for any reason whatsoever, it will refund to the agency within 30 days of said termination, all payments made hereunder by the agency to the contractor for work not completed or not accepted by the agency. Such termination will require written notice to that effect to be delivered by the contractor to the agency not less than 30 days prior to said termination.

Q. Evaluation Process and Scoring

The RFP will be reviewed by the Evaluation Panel.

Each proposal will be evaluated as described below and assigned an overall score ranking.

Major Criteria Categories Point Weight

Qualifications 25

Experience and Technical Competence 35

Proposed Method to Accomplish Work 25

Knowledge and Understanding of Biosolids Disposal 25

Project Organization and Key Personnel 20

Cost 20

Local Vendor Preference 5

TOTAL 155

R. Insurance and Indemnification Requirements

Insurance coverage shall be in place prior to commencing work and shall remain in force until the entire project is completed or the length of time that is specified in the contract. See Form E for requirements.

II. SCOPE OF WORK

A. Project

The City of Watertown (City) is seeking proposals to provide hauling and land application services for approximately 2,150 cubic yards of cake Biosolids annually, identified in Wisconsin

Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (WPDES) Permit as Outfall 004. The term of the contract shall be for 2021 through 2023 with option for renewal for an additional two (2) years.

Annual projection completion date is November 30th. The completion date may be extended by the City if weather conditions prevent the Contractor from completing project by November 30th of each calendar year. Accepted contract price shall remain in effect until project is completed.

B. Scope of Services

a. Contracted firm shall be properly licensed by the State of Wisconsin Department of Natural

Resources (WDNR) for Biosolids hauling and land application services.

b. Contracted firm shall provide the City with a resume’ showing experience of staff related the land application of Biosolids and knowledge related to WDNR NR 204.

c. Contracted firm shall provide the City a minimum of ten (10) references with contact name(s), phone number(s) and years where Biosolids have been hauled and land applied. Contact name shall be person(s) who has direct knowledge of the Contractors performance.

d. Contracted firm shall provide all equipment necessary to load, transport, land apply and incorporate Biosolids.

e. Contracted firm shall be responsible for obtaining WDNR approved sites for Biosolids land spreading if not using sites already approved for the City by the WDNR. Prior to land spreading, any new sites shall be submitted to the City for review and shall become additional approved sites for the City only. A list of approved sites will be shared upon request by the Contractor. City owned land is not to be considered available for Biosolids land spreading by the Contractor.

f. The Contracted firm shall provide all necessary information related DNR site approval prior to the work commencing and provide the City with appropriate DNR site approval forms.

g. Contracted firm shall have extensive knowledge related to WDNR Chapter NR 204 and shall meet all requirements set forth in NR 204 related to Biosolids disposal and record keeping.

h. Prior to land applying, Contracted firm will submit soils report (can use soil report obtained from landowner if soil analysis was completed within the past four (4) years) and form(s) to

City that will be used to record amount of Biosolids applied to each site. This form shall be used by the City for completing annual WDNR Biosolids Reports.

i. All costs related to soil testing shall be the responsibility of the Contracted firm with testing being performed in accordance with UW Extension A2100 soil sampling bulletin and WDNR

Chapter NR 204. If updated soil reports are needed to use sites on the City’s WDNR approved site list the Contracted firm will complete soil tests and shall not be paid separately but shall be considered incidental work related to the bid.

j. Contracted firm shall provide the City with daily records of the amount of Biosolids hauled/land applied prior to the end of the day for each day land application occurs. Amounts shall be recorded as cubic yards. An agreed upon cubic yard per pay loader bucket shall be used to quantify amount of Biosolids applied to site.

k. The City reserves the right to inspect all fields and equipment in use at any time.

l. The working hours for this project shall be 7 AM – 6 PM, Monday – Friday unless approved by the City. No work shall be allowed on Saturday and Sunday unless approved by the City.

No work shall be allowed on Holidays (New Year’s Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, Day after Thanksgiving Day, Christmas

Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve Day).

m. The City will not assist the Contracted firm in obtaining Permits for driving on Township roads if said permits are required.

n. The City reserves the right to haul their own Biosolids if needed or desired.

o. Contracted firm shall be responsible for keeping all roads clean of mud to avoid complaints from Township, residents and for public safety. Maintaining roads shall not be paid separately but shall be consider incidental work related to the bid.

p. Contracted firm shall provide the City with a Spill Recovery Plan that shall be followed in the event of a loss of hauled Biosolids on any public or private road.

q. The City shall provide the Contracted firm with the most recent available Biosolids test results.

The test results can be used for the bid process. Prior to applying Biosolids, the City shall provide Contracted firm with the most recent test results that will then be used to finalize

Biosolids application rates.

r. Within fifteen (15) days of the completion of this project, Contracted firm shall provide the

City with all information regarding land application including landowner information, location, soil testing, Biosolids application rates, daily log sheets, nutrient calculations and any other information requested by the City that may be needed to completion WDNR Annual

Biosolids Application Reports.

s. If the Contractor fails to perform its obligations, the City may terminate this contract upon ten

(10) days written notice.

C. Cost and Payment

Cost for land application of Biosolids shall be based on cubic yard cost as provide in Form F.

The Contractor shall invoice the City within thirty (30) days after work has been completed. The

City shall make payment within thirty (30) days of receipt of invoice.

D. Completion of Work

All work related to hauling and land application of Biosolids shall be completed by November

30th of each calendar year. Failure to complete this project within this time period, will result in daily forfeiture of $300/day. The City may extend completion date due to inclement weather conditions. Completion of work is considered to be an empty storage facility annually.

II. REQUIRED INFORMATION

A. Proposal Format

Proposals are to be limited to 10 pages (may be double sided) including the signed cover letter, with information requested below. Proposals received not following the format specifications will forfeit points, and may be disqualified and considered non-responsive at the City's discretion.

All proposals submitted in response to this request should include the following headings to assist evaluation. The proposal shall be concise, well organized and demonstrate the responder’s qualifications and experience applicable to the Project. Three copies shall be submitted with the

RFP.

B. Cover Letter

Provide a cover letter summarizing your proposal including a brief summary of your capabilities to deliver the services requested in a timely fashion and of the firm’s experience in this type of work. Your proposal must be signed.

C. Basic Qualifications of the Firm

Provide basic data relative to the firm’s size, history, personnel, equipment, and expertise in the service being requested. Include name, title, address, and telephone number of person to contact concerning the proposal.

D. Experience and Technical Competence

Provide a list of at least five past or ongoing projects that demonstrate successful and satisfactory completion of work of comparable size for which the proposed team provided similar services as those required by this RFP over the past 10 years. Include a brief description of the project, date initiated, date completed, cost, name of owner, and owner’s project manager with phone number.

E. Proposed Method to Accomplish the Work

Discuss approach to items identified in the Scope of Services. Include discussion on approach to maintain budget, and schedule.

F. Knowledge and Understanding of Biosolids Disposal Environment

Describe the firm’s knowledge and understanding of Biosolids land application environment.

The “environment” includes, but is not limited to; Federal, State, County and local laws, statutes, codes, regulations, ordinances, and rules.

G. Project Organization and Key Personnel

Describe proposed project organization, including identification and responsibilities of key personnel. Key personnel identified in the proposal shall not be removed and/or substituted by the

Contractor or subcontractor unless said named key personnel leave the employment of the

Contractor or subcontractor. Indicate role and responsibilities of Contractor and all subcontractors.

Identify current commitments, availability and location of all key personnel included in the proposal.